From Joe Finn at MHSA:
Today, Governor Patrick affirmed his commitment to reducing the state’s reliance on emergency resources and transforming the homeless adult shelter system. The Governor’s Fiscal Year 2011 budget level funds programs in the Commonwealth’s homeless individuals assistance line item, 7004-0102, and transfers funds for hopeFound, operated at Shattuck Hospital, into this line item. Line item 7004-0104, which supports Home & Healthy for Good, was also level funded. We at MHSA are grateful for the Governor’s decision to preserve these important resources.
Governor Patrick understands that the service and housing providers funded through these line items have led the way in innovations that end, not merely manage, homelessness. He recognizes that the resources in line items 7004-0102 and 7004-0104 provide the platform for further innovations in cost-effective low-threshold housing and rapid re-housing strategies across Massachusetts.
Together with Governor Patrick, Lieutenant Governor Murray, the Department of Housing and Community Development and the Interagency Council on Housing and Homelessness, MHSA and its member agencies are prepared to continue to transform the current system of care for homeless individuals. We are moving steadily from an expensive system that emphasizes temporary shelter to a more cost-effective one that focuses on triage, community-based services and housing-based solutions for our poorest and most disabled neighbors.
Thank you to all of you who advocated for sufficient resources during these difficult fiscal times. It made a difference. I ask that you take the time now to personally thank Governor Patrick (617 – 725 – 4005) for his commitment to protecting critical resources for homeless citizens across the Commonwealth.
